


More Than Acquaintances

by hopefulminty



Series: Acquaintances [2]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Kids, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-05-18 15:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19337632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopefulminty/pseuds/hopefulminty
Summary: Takes place fours years afterAcquaintances.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so by three days I actually meant a little over two weeks. Meaning that it took me a little over two weeks to start missing these characters enough that I started seriously thinking about what I wanted to write next.
> 
> And so here we go again.
> 
> This is a sequel to _Acquaintances_ (it takes place four years later), but at this point I'd say it's not going to be a traditional one. Meaning that it's going to be less a semi-cohesive plot with rotating POVs and more along the lines of 'here's a random bit of fluff I felt like writing.'
> 
> That may or may not change.

Connor wasn’t sure which was more disturbing – the fact that the man he’d been talking to was the third person in a row who thought he was married to Zoe or the changes Jared had decided to make to _All About That Bass_.

He decided to focus on the latter because it was safer and more pressing and the man he’d been talking to had made a genuine mistake. 

Jared, on the other hand, was intentionally, repeatedly singing the words “all about that breast” to his one-year-old daughter.

Connor whipped around to glare at him. “Do you mind?”

“What?” Jared asked innocently. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of Penny’s head. “You looked like you could use backup.”

“Do you really think that song’s...” Connor stopped himself before he said the word ‘appropriate.’

Jared smirked at him anyway. “It’s true! This girl loves her milk. Her mother’s milk. Your sister’s milk.”

Connor swallowed the things he wanted to say. 

Penny was still too young to fully understand what was happening, but Sebastian was a precocious two-year-old who loved to repeat everything he heard.

Connor rocked back on his heels. Jared was right. He had needed backup. Not the kind of backup that Jared could provide, but still. He hated these things. He knew they were necessary, but he hated them.

Jared snagged a shrimp from a passing waiter and shoved it in his mouth so quickly it was like it had never been there. “I still can’t believe people pay to hear you guys talk.”

“It’s a library fundraiser. They’re here to support the library.”

“And to hear you three go on about your creative process and...” Jared shook the hand that Sebastian was holding until his son laughed. “Yada, yada, yada.”

Connor rubbed his forehead. “I need coffee.”

He wasn’t surprised when Jared followed him across the shop. 

He was surprised when Jared stood back and let him start pushing buttons on Bessie III.

“You break it, you buy it,” Jared finally said. He snickered as Connor studied the machine. “Isn’t that right, kids? Tell your uncle Connor. You break it, you buy it.”

Sebastian released a burst of unintelligible toddler babble that ended with the words, “Break! Buy!”

Jared grinned. “From the mouths of babes.”

“Why is this thing so complicated?”

“We were finally able to get a high-tech machine after you left.” Jared chewed his lip when he saw Connor’s expression. He rolled his eyes and thrust Penny in Connor’s direction. “Here. Take her.”

Connor shifted his niece onto his hip and watched as Jared strode over to the counter.

“What do you want?” Jared shook his head. “Stupid question. What do I feel like making you?”

Sebastian giggled because his father had said a bad word. 

Because Jared was living in a world where ‘stupid’ was considered a bad word.

That was quite possibly the best thing to come from Zoe’s unexpected back-to-back pregnancies.

Besides the kids themselves.

Connor knew everyone was in agreement about that, even if their existence still felt like a surprise.

Connor leaned against the counter and waited while Jared did his thing. He didn’t bother stopping Penny when she started slobbering all over his shirt.

“She’s still teething?”

“Like a...” Jared’s mouth snapped shut when he realized Sebastian was staring up at him with wide, hopeful eyes. “Always. I’m starting to think these kids will be teething until they’re twenty.”

The machine roared to life behind Jared. The sound made Penny whimper and bury her head in Connor’s shoulder. He rubbed her back consolingly.

She wasn’t the only one who was affected by the noise.

The sound of the coffeemaker warming up instantly caused a line to form in front of them.

Jared glanced over his shoulder and mumbled something that was definitely on Zoe’s list of words they weren’t supposed to say in front of the kids.

Luckily, Sebastian was too distracted by the crowd to notice. He let go of his father’s leg and latched onto Connor instead.

Connor hoped there wasn’t anyone else he was supposed to impress that night. His shirt was already starting to smell like baby drool. 

He decided not to stick around and find out if there was anyone waiting to speak to him. He took his coffee from Jared, promised to keep the kids out of harm’s way, and stepped away from the bar before the first guest could finish giving Jared her order.

He automatically searched for Zoe. He wasn’t surprised to see she was surrounded on all sides. 

He knew she didn’t need backup though. She was in her element.

She was in performer-mode, answering questions, and posing for pictures. 

Their eyes met and she nodded to show she was grateful he had her kids.

He nodded back.

He swung Sebastian’s hand around as he led him outside. His nephew squealed like they were going somewhere far more exciting than the bench outside Cedar Klein.

He took a seat and watched as the kids explored the area outside the café. Penny didn’t make it very far. She was still wobbly and uncertain on her feet, so she decided to plop down on the grass and have a very serious conversation with her shadow.

Sebastian took off running the second he realized he was free.

Free from the confines of being inside, free from his parents, free from the watchful eyes of all the boring, sensible adults in his life who loved nothing more than to tell him to slow down.

Connor definitely didn’t fall into that category, though he did try his best to keep Sebastian on the grass. Experience had taught him that his nephew screamed like a banshee whenever he fell on the pavement.

He was so busy blocking Sebastian from the sidewalk that it took him a minute to realize what the boy was chirping. He snorted and reached for his phone.

He recorded a quick clip and sent it to Evan with the caption _What did you do to him?_

He didn’t expect to get a response. If his calculations were correct, Evan still had at least five more hours of driving to go.

That was if his vision didn’t get too blurry for him to keep going. Connor kept expecting a text to pop up saying that Evan had decided to find someplace to crash for the night.

He hoped that didn’t happen. It had only been three days since Evan left to help Liam move into his new dorm, but Connor felt like it had been weeks.

Not weeks. Months. Years. An enormous, indefinable amount of time.

It hadn’t been this bad before he’d gotten to Cedar Klein. He always hated these meet-and-greets, but surviving the night without Evan by his side, without knowing Evan was somewhere in the room, was turning out to be a lot harder than he’d expected.

Which probably explained why Jared had thought he needed backup. He must have looked truly pathetic back there. Nothing else would have made Jared decide to help him out.

Nothing except for the kids. Connor knew Jared loved to let other people take his kids whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Not that Connor minded. He loved the kids and it was a relief to get out of there.

And it wasn’t like he was the one the guests wanted to talk to. Not really. Not once they understood how the creative team behind _The Fairy Drops_ worked.

They always flocked to Zoe first because she was the face of the franchise. Her songs about the fairies who lived in the rain clouds had gone viral three years ago.

Randomly gone viral. No one could have predicted it.

Zoe had written far better songs than those. 

Of course, she hadn’t written them alone. That was where Connor came in. They’d written them together when they got home from the party celebrating Alana and Tracy’s elopement. They’d written them while giddy and drunk and exhausted to the point of being delirious. 

They’d written them while Jared egged them on and Evan chimed in with facts about the environments the fairies could live in every time they were reborn.

Which possibly explained how they’d gone viral.

The songs hadn’t just appealed to Zoe’s usual audience of preschoolers and their parents. 

They’d quickly developed a cult following among college students who started analyzing the lyrics and concluding that the songs were deeper than they seemed. The students thought the songs contained messages about things like reincarnation and gender identity and climate change.

That hadn’t been Connor’s intention when he’d helped Zoe write the songs. Not consciously at least. And he knew for a fact she hadn’t put that much thought into the lyrics. She’d been more concerned with the rhyming scheme than the meaning behind the words.

He’d rolled with it though. They both had.

They’d started a whole channel devoted to _The Fairy Drops_. 

And that was when things had really taken off.

They’d wound up getting a book deal out of it. A small one with a small publishing house that happened to be owned by a friend of their mother’s.

Which was where she came in. 

They’d needed someone to illustrate the book and their publisher had thought it would be a good idea to make it a family project.

 _The Fairy Drops_ written by Connor Murphy, illustrated by Cynthia Murphy, based on the hit songs recorded by Zoe Murphy.

The gimmick had worked.

And possibly explained why there were at least three people at the library fundraiser who thought Connor and Zoe were married.

Jared’s presence hadn’t dissuaded them. 

It amused Connor to think there were people in there who seemed to believe Jared was the kids’ manny. 

Connor wondered if Zoe would take Jared’s last name if they ever decided to get married. 

He’d asked her once and she’d gone on about how her name was part of her identity.

And then she’d asked if he planned to take Evan’s.

Her tone had made it sound like she thought it was a given that he was going to marry Evan someday.

His tone had not. He didn’t think it was a given that she was going to marry Jared. 

He thought Zoe and Jared were in it for the long haul, but it wouldn’t surprise him if they never officially got married.

Not that he could blame her. He could think of dozens of reasons for why she shouldn’t want to marry Jared Kleinman.

He knew none of them were on her list though.

If she even had a list. 

It kind of seemed like her decision not to marry Jared wasn’t so much a decision as it was something that had just happened. Or hadn’t happened, as the case may be.

He also knew there was a chance it had something to do with her sense of identity. He knew there was a part of Zoe that didn’t want to become their mother. To become someone who felt like she was defined by her roles as wife and mother. Someone who was bored out of her mind more often than not.

Someone who didn’t find her true purpose in life until she was in her 50s. 

_The Fairy Drops_ really was good for all of them. And not just for financial reasons.

The money definitely was a plus though. It had given Connor the push he’d needed to leave Cedar Klein. 

It wasn’t that they were making a lot. Not yet anyway. There had been some talk of developing a cartoon series based on the books, but that was a long way off. If it ever even happened.

The college students who’d first discovered the music videos would probably have children of their own by the time it did.

Sebastian and Penny would probably be in college by the time...

Connor shook his head. Thinking about the two of them growing up made him feel impossibly old. 

He did a double take when Penny suddenly spat out a wad of grass.

His heart sped up and he quickly glanced over his shoulder. 

That probably explained why his mother always looked skeptical whenever she heard he’d babysat the kids alone.

Connor straightened himself up when he heard the door to the café open. He waited to hear his mother’s voice offering to take over.

Nothing. 

It remained silent except for Penny’s babbling and Sebastian’s delighted shrieks as he named all of the trees surrounding them.

Connor looked up when the bench sagged next to him.

“Evan babysat them this week?” Larry guessed. He smiled as Sebastian pointed at a tree and declared it was a maple.

Connor nodded. “Mom sent you to help?”

Larry laughed at the suggestion. “You’re braver than I am, taking on two of them at once.”

Connor bit his lip. That wasn’t the first time he’d heard his father say something along those lines.

He thought it explained a lot.

“Grandpa!” Sebastian cried out from across the lawn. He pointed to something on the ground. “Look!”

Larry oohed and aahed until Sebastian moved on to the next tree. “What was he trying to show me?”

Connor snorted and shrugged. “An acorn, probably.”

Larry’s eyes flashed knowingly. “We have a whole can of them from the last time they came over.”

Connor nodded. They did too. 

“Do you need to get back in there?”

Connor tilted his head. “Are you offering to...”

He gestured at the kids.

“I can help you take them back to Jared.” Larry’s eyes flashed again. They flashed in a way that made Connor’s spine prickle. “I’m better with them when they’re older.”

Connor stared blankly at Sebastian as he circled the tree. 

He could feel his father deflate next to him.

He glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

He knew he should say something encouraging. He should assure his father that he had done just fine, that there were no complaints on his end. 

Zoe had made it clear that she didn’t want them to sugarcoat things in front of her kids though.

They weren’t supposed to scream and shout and say things they’d be embarrassed to hear repeated, but they also weren’t supposed to lie and make the kids think things were fine when they weren’t.

Connor decided silence was his best option.

Silence and doing what he should’ve been doing in the first place.

He stood up and walked over to the tree Sebastian was circling. He stood back and waited and pulled his nephew into a tickle attack when he ran by.

He wasn’t surprised when Penny crawled over to him and lifted her arms to be picked up too.

He was surprised when his father beat him to it.

 

Connor lowered his phone when the door creaked open.

Evan dropped his bag in the doorway and gave him a look that was half-affectionate, half-exasperated. “I told you not to wait up.”

“I wasn’t waiting up.”

“It’s 2 AM.”

“It’s 1:30, but I see your point.”

Evan kicked off his shoes and flopped onto their bed. “I feel like my bladder’s going to explode.”

He lifted his head to squint at Connor. “Did I just say that out loud?”

“You did,” Connor confirmed with a grin. “Might I suggest heading to the bathroom before you...”

Evan sighed and reluctantly pulled himself back up. He mumbled something about traffic being a bitch as he stumbled towards the door.

Connor finished his text to Alana before putting his phone back on the nightstand. 

He nodded at it when Evan returned. “Alana says hi.”

Evan glanced over his shoulder before he turned back to his dresser. “She has service tonight?”

“It comes and goes.”

Evan finished changing out of his travel clothes and climbed in bed. “I can’t believe she has it at all. They’re in the middle of the ocean.”

Alana and Tracy were on a cruise with a group of their lesbian friends. It had become an annual tradition of theirs.

An annual tradition that they’d never even thought of including their other friends in.

An annual tradition that they’d never even thought of making a half-hearted, ‘if only you all were lesbians’ attempt at including their other friends in.

Connor was happy for them. He really was. 

And he knew this was part of growing up and getting older. Friends drifted apart, especially when they were going through different life stages.

Drifted apart made it sound more drastic than it really was.

It wasn’t that they’d all drifted apart completely. They still saw each other on a semi-regular basis. He had a bi-weekly lunch date with Alana that they kept more often than not.

And they all texted constantly. Connor still heard some of Alana’s news before Tracy did.

It wasn’t the same though. Things were different for all of them.

Alana and Tracy were married. Zoe and Jared were raising a pair of toddlers.

And he and Evan were happily living together with their five cats.

His eyes widened when he realized he hadn’t told Evan about Apple yet.

He opened his mouth to do just that, only to close it when he saw the way Evan was staring. “What?”

“Nothing,” Evan shrugged.

Connor sat himself up. “What?”

“It’s weird, isn’t it? That we have to schedule times to see them all now?”

Connor smiled tightly. There were times he swore Evan could read his mind. 

“We see Zoe and Jared all the time.”

Evan gave him a quick smirk. “Yeah, because they-”

“Need us to babysit,” they finished together.

Connor snapped his fingers. “Jinx. You owe me a...”

“A what?”

Connor yawned. “I’ll get back to you about that in the morning.”

“I told you not to wait up.”

“I wasn’t waiting up!” Connor insisted. 

He was lying.

They both knew that, so he wasn’t sure why he was bothering to try.

“I should’ve stopped somewhere. Traffic was a nightmare and there was road work everywhere and did I tell you I took the wrong exit? I ended up in...” Evan shook his head. “I don’t even remember the last half hour of the drive. I probably hit a deer.”

“You hit a deer?”

“I said I probably hit a deer. As in I don’t remember anything. It was all a blur of streets and lights and...”

“I think you would remember hitting a deer.”

It was Evan’s turn to yawn. “Probably.”

“You got Liam all settled in?”

Evan nodded sleepily. “He’s settled. He didn’t even need me this year. He has friends now. Friends who are more than capable of helping him move.”

Evan leaned back on his elbows. “He was disappointed you didn’t come with me. He was hoping to show you off.”

Connor couldn’t mask his surprise. “Me?”

“Because of _The Fairy Drops_. Liam and his friends are obsessed. One of them has a whole sketchbook filled with fan art.”

Connor smiled at his hands. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised. 

He also knew he would’ve had to stick around for the entire meet-and-greet if the guests had all been college students. 

The majority of their fans favored Zoe because she was the face of the project. The ones at the library fundraiser had adored his mother because they knew her. She was one of them.

But the college students...

They always went straight for Connor.

They loved to tell him all about their theories. The more outlandish, the better.

They loved that he actually made them feel validated when they shared their ideas, unlike his mother, who didn’t know what to say, and Zoe, who was usually too tired to have more than a surface reaction to anything that caught her off guard.

“Next time,” Connor promised.

“There may not be a next time,” Evan groaned. “I think that drive did me in.”

“I think tonight did me in,” Connor countered.

Evan’s eyes widened at that. “The fundraiser. Right. I almost... How was it?”

“We saved the library.”

Evan’s brow furrowed uncertainly. “Was it in that much trouble?”

“No... I mean, we raised the funds they were expecting us to raise.”

“Okay,” Evan nodded. “And-”

“There were six people there who thought I was married to Zoe!”

“Again?” Evan burst out laughing. He laughed even harder when he saw Connor’s expression.

“It’s not funny!”

“It’s a little bit funny.”

“It’s really not. How would you feel if someone thought you were married to Ella?”

“Gross because she’s seventeen and I’m twenty-nine.”

“And she’s your sister.”

“Well, yeah,” Evan shrugged. “That too.”

Evan tapped his chin. “You’d think they’d notice...”

“Notice what?”

“That you two look a lot alike.” 

Evan said the words so quickly that Connor knew they weren’t what he’d originally intended to say.

He raised an eyebrow to show Evan he knew.

Evan swallowed sharply. He fidgeted with his hands and took a breath. “And, you know, there’s also the fact that neither of you wear wedding rings.”

“So, you’re saying I should start wearing a ring to...”

Connor decided not to finish that thought. 

He let the words hang in the air.

Evan shifted around a bit. He laughed when Apple suddenly darted into their room and leapt onto the bed.

Connor gave him a weak smile.

Evan chewed his lip like he was trying not to smile back. “New cat?”

Connor scratched Apple’s head until she purred. “New cat.”


	2. Chapter 2

****

I

Zoe felt like she was lying in the middle of a minefield. One twitch, one wrong move, and it was all over.

She tilted her head back to glare at Jared when he let out a particularly loud wheeze.

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing when their eyes met.

She shook her head at their daughter and whispered, “I’ll never understand how someone so small can make so much noise in her sleep.”

“She really is my daughter,” Jared said in a tone that was both fond and proud. “What do you think she’s dreaming about?”

Zoe puffed her cheeks out and sighed. “I don’t know. Bees? Fire trucks? The slide at the park that’s supposed to look like a dragon?”

“That’s supposed to be a dragon? I thought it was a...” Jared closed his eyes for a second. “Not a dragon. A fish, maybe? A worm? A snake with some kind of horrible disease? If that’s a dragon, then it’s the saddest looking dragon I’ve ever seen.”

Zoe sighed when Penny curled into her. She hated to admit it, but there was a part of her that loved these moments. The quiet moments that followed the storm.

There was another part though, a bigger part, that knew they needed to help Penny train herself to sleep through the night.

To sleep through the night in her own crib. Preferably without waking up her brother.

Zoe absentmindedly stroked Penny’s hair. “I think it’s time for her to have her own room.”

“Um...” Jared chuckled. He gestured around them wildly. “Where are you thinking that might be?”

“I don’t know,” Zoe shrugged. “I hadn’t gotten that far in my thinking.”

“This house has two bedrooms.”

“I know,” Zoe snapped.

They both froze when Penny whimpered in her sleep.

“I know,” Zoe repeated as softly as she could manage. “It’s just...”

“I shared a room with Henry until he left for college. And then I had my own room for nine glorious months before he dropped out to become a foot model.”

Jared tilted his head back to grin at her. “Did I ever tell you about that? The time Henry tried to get people to pay him for pictures of his feet?”

Jared shook his head sadly. “The sad part is that it worked. There actually was a market for that. Not a huge one, but...”

“It’s different with Sebastian and Penny,” Zoe pointed out. “They’re brother and sister, not-”

“That won’t matter for years though. Not until the hormones start kicking in. And the self-consciousness and...” Jared’s eyes bulged. “Oh my God. They’re going to be teenagers someday.”

Zoe let out a startled laugh. “You’re just realizing that now?”

“I’ve fathered two children with Murphy genes in them. This does not bode well for my future safety.”

“For the last time, Sebastian isn’t going to try to kill you in your sleep.”

“You think I’m worried about Sebastian?” Jared huffed. He jabbed a finger in Penny’s direction. “She’s the one I’m worried about. Your mom showed me a bunch of pictures when we were over there last week and her expressions are exactly like Connor’s were at that age.”

Zoe sighed because she knew what he meant. Penny definitely resembled the Murphy side of the family. Sebastian, on the other hand, was already starting to look like a mini-Jared.

“And mine,” Zoe added. “Did Mom show you that one picture of me? The one where I’m standing in the middle of a field? It’s like looking at a picture of Penny.”

Jared hummed in response. He propped himself up on his elbows. “You know we’ll have to move again if we want to give Penny her own room.”

“Not if we put on an addition.”

“You think we can afford to put on an addition?”

“It’d be less expensive than buying another house.”

“We can barely afford the one we’re living in.”

Zoe rolled onto her side and glared at the wall.

She knew he had a point. They weren’t drowning in bills, but sometimes it felt like they were barely treading water. They’d only gotten the house they were living in because her parents had co-signed the mortgage. She hated the thought of going to them for help again.

She knew they’d do it though. Anything for their grandchildren. It was something Zoe heard all the time. Mostly from her mother, but even her father had been known to say something to that effect.

She knew they thought it was big of them to put their grandchildren first. To think about the grandkids without wondering if their daughter was ever going to marry the guy who’d knocked her up. Twice. To think about the grandkids without judging whether or not Zoe and Jared knew what they were doing, if they’d made a mistake. Two mistakes. Two back-to-back mistakes that had turned out all right, but were more than enough to make Zoe want to read up on every kind of birth control in existence.

Because, as much as she loved her kids, she really didn’t fancy the idea of having a third one. Two were enough. More than enough. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe they were real, that this was her life.

So many parts of it felt strange when she stopped and thought about it. 

She was a semi-famous children’s singer with a cult following among college students.

She was basically married to Jared Kleinman. 

Jared Kleinman was the father of her two children.

She had two children. She’d never really been sure if she wanted children. She’d always kind of thought that maybe she’d have one. Someday. Probably when she was 40 and probably to make her parents happy.

Her parents had been happy about both baby announcements, despite the circumstances surrounding them. They’d been surprisingly supportive about the whole thing and had never once said the word ‘wedlock.’

She knew she couldn’t survive without her family’s help. She relied on her parents more than she wanted to and Connor was one of her go-to babysitters.

Evan was the kids’ favorite babysitter, but Connor was a close second. If someone had told her that was going to be the case twelve years ago, she would’ve laughed until she couldn’t breathe. And then she would’ve accused the person of smoking whatever Connor was carrying that day.

She rolled back over when she heard Jared yawn. 

“I miss sleep,” Jared sighed. “Sleep used to be my friend.”

He closed his eyes when Sebastian started calling to them from across the hall.

Penny bolted up when she heard her brother shout “Mommy!”

Zoe extended her hand to do rock-paper-scissors with Jared.

Because, luckily for her, ‘mommy’ was interchangeable with ‘daddy’ most of the time.

Jared lost. 

Zoe had a feeling he did it on purpose to make up for crushing her three-bedroom dream. 

Either that or he’d noticed that Penny was sporting an expression that was pure Connor and decided to hightail it out of there before it was too late.

Zoe didn’t care either way. She smiled as Penny crawled up to snuggle with her. 

She smiled and waited for the boys to return. She smiled and waited for the day to begin.

 

****

II

Alana held up the shot glass with the naked woman on it and wrinkled her nose. “Who did we get this for?”

Tracy tilted her head to examine it. “I don’t remember buying that.”

“Well, obviously we did.”

“Was that from the shop where they were giving out free shot glasses?”

“Yes!” Alana snapped her fingers excitedly. “Okay. New question. Who do we know that would like a tacky, free shot glass?”

“Jared,” they said together.

“Except he is a family man now,” Tracy said in an excessively serious tone.

Alana snorted and wrapped the glass back up. “Next item.”

Tracy held up a ceramic palm tree magnet. “Zoe?”

“Sure,” Alana shrugged. “Why not?”

“Or Evan because it’s a tree?”

“We already got him that dish towel with all the Caribbean flowers on it.”

“Oh...” Tracy nodded. “Right. Okay. Zoe it is then.”

Alana dug into her bag again. She smirked as she pulled out a sombrero. “Connor.”

Tracy sighed and shook her head. “No...”

“Yes! This has Connor written all over it.”

“He’ll kill you.”

“It’s from both of us.”

“But he’ll know it’s really from you and I’m too young to become a widow.”

“He’ll grumble and moan and we’ll get our Christmas card picture out of it.”

“We’re doing Christmas cards this year?”

“Everyone in my family is. Even Alicia’s doing one with her hamster.”

Tracy did a double take. “The hamster’s still alive?”

Alana nodded slowly. “No idea how, but yeah. That thing must have a really strong will to live.”

“Are you sure he isn’t actually a disgraced, evil wizard in disguise?”

“He isn’t that old.”

“Yeah, but he’s surviving in Alicia’s care. Alicia!”

Alana waved the sombrero again. “Speaking of Alicia...”

“Better Alicia than Connor.”

Alana put the hat back down. “What did we get Connor then?”

Tracy surveyed the mess they’d made. “That t-shirt over there?”

“The black one with the pirate skull on it?”

Tracy shrugged. “I don’t see anything else that-”

“At least the hat’s obviously a joke. Depending on his mood, he might find the shirt offensive.”

“A t-shirt with a pirate skull on it?” Tracy chewed her lip. “Okay. You’d know better than I would.”

She squinted at her hands while she tapped her fingers together. “I think the magnet was for Connor, actually. Not Zoe. You got it because of that inflatable palm tree you two used to have.”

Alana felt like slapping her forehead. “Of course! Okay. That’s Connor’s gift, so-”

“Zoe will think the sombrero’s hilarious. She’ll make the kids wear it.”

“And Connor if I tell her it’s for our Christmas card.”

Tracy shook her head at her.

Alana checked the size label on the t-shirt. “Okay, this was for Alan.”

Tracy gestured around the bed. “I think everything else is just a random magnet or keychain. We can give those out to our families.”

Alana sighed and flopped back onto her pillow. “Going on vacation is exhausting.”

“Next year, we should get into a huge fight with everyone we love the week before we go.”

Alana snapped her fingers and pointed at Tracy. “Excellent idea.”

She groaned when a text popped up on her phone. It was at the end of the bed, which may as well have been a million miles away. “I’m not checking that.”

Tracy patted her foot and looked. “It’s Leah. They made it home safely.”

Alana struggled to prop herself up. She gave up and compromised by falling into a position that was somewhere between sitting and lying down. “Did you hear her this morning?”

“Did I hear her...” Tracy’s head flopped from side to side. “She said a lot of things this morning.”

“Did you hear her say it’s not real love unless you’re willing to stick your finger in your partner’s nose?”

Tracy giggled and stared down at her hands. “Yeah. I heard her all right.”

“That’s crazy, isn’t it?”

Tracy’s head flew back up. She studied Alana’s expression for a moment before scooting around so that they were side by side. “Are you asking if I’d stick my finger up your nose?”

Alana glanced at her quickly. “Would you?”

“Why do I suddenly feel like we’re in middle school again? Are you going to dare me to prank call my boss next?”

“Please. We were way more mature than that in middle school.”

Tracy raised an eyebrow and shrugged. 

“The nose thing though.”

“Is stupid and gross and totally Leah.” Tracy stretched her arms out in front of her. “You know she still won’t go to the bathroom in front of Cindy because she thinks it isn’t lady-like?”

“But sticking her finger up Cindy’s nose is?” Alana let her breath out in a huff. “Okay. I see your point.”

Tracy nudged Alana’s shoulder with her own. “I’d stick my finger up your nose if you needed help breathing, like if it was blocked and you couldn’t do it on your own.”

“So, when I’m old and crippled and wheezing, you’ll be there to get my snot out?”

“Of course,” Tracy beamed. “Till death do us part, baby.”

 

****

**III**

“Can’t sleep?”

Evan stifled a sigh as he rolled onto his side. He wasn’t surprised to see Connor staring at him. He’d suspected Connor was awake before he’d even spoken.

“Bad dream,” Evan confirmed.

Connor nodded. “I figured.”

Evan’s face scrunched up. He pressed two fingers into his forehead with one hand and reached around for their sheet with the other.

“You threw it off ten minutes ago,” Connor informed him. 

Evan sat up to see. 

Sure enough, the sheet was twisted up at the bottom of the bed. The comforter was nowhere to be found.

“I couldn’t get comfortable.”

Connor nodded again. “I had a feeling that was the problem.”

“I was thrashing around that much?”

“You kicked me three times.”

It took Evan a minute to process that. He cringed when he did. “Sorry.”

“Delayed apology. This must be bad. What were you dreaming about?”

Connor sat up to look down at him when he didn’t respond. “You don’t remember?”

“No, I do.” Evan swallowed dryly. “I-”

His eyes widened when he saw the way Connor was watching him. His heart did a flip in his chest. “It wasn’t the tree this time.”

He said the words so quickly he wasn’t sure if Connor heard.

He wasn’t sure until he saw Connor’s expression. Until he saw the mixture of relief, disbelief, and curiosity that was dancing across Connor’s face.

“I was in high school,” Evan said. “It was graduation and I was on stage giving a speech and-”

“You were naked?”

Evan shook his head.

“I’ve had the naked dream.”

“I wasn’t naked,” Evan insisted. “I dropped my cards and when I stood up Mr. Howard was there. He told me they’d reviewed my file and I’d actually failed every class I’d taken, so-”

“You had to repeat the year?”

“I had to repeat all four years.”

“You had to repeat all four years of high school?”

“It gets worse.”

“Worse than repeating high school?”

Evan nodded solemnly. “They offered me a chance to take a bunch of exams to prove I know my stuff so I didn’t have to repeat.”

“You failed the tests?”

Evan nodded again. “It wasn’t fair. They made me take exams on all these things I’ve never studied, like Medieval literature.”

“So, it’s my fault then,” Connor muttered. “Because I was talking about _Beowulf_ last night.”

“It gets worse.”

Connor just stared.

“A clown broke into the school and started chopping people into pieces.”

Connor’s shoulders shook as he tried not to laugh. “Sorry. Sorry. It’s just...”

Evan snorted when their eyes met. And then he grinned. And then he laughed.

They both laughed.

They both laughed until they couldn’t breathe.

“Why is that so funny?” Evan finally managed to ask.

“Well, let’s see,” Connor drawled. “You were sitting there shaking and twitching about the idea of repeating high school, but the thought of a clown breaking in and hacking people to death just gets a ‘meh, whatever’ shrug out of you.”

“I said it got worse!”

“Meh, whatever...”

Evan pretended to pout for a moment. “It was really traumatic.”

“I’m sure it was.”

Evan glanced at him quickly. “And it’s not like I cared about any of the people the clown killed. They were people like Sophie Ventura. Do you remember Sophie Ventura?”

“I don’t remember her well enough to subconsciously believe a clown should hack her to death.”

“I don’t...” Evan shook his head. “I’m just saying, it’s not like the clown got you or my mom or Jared or Zoe or... you know.”

“Anyone you care about.”

Evan nodded. “Exactly.”

“That’s cold.”

“It’s not...” Evan made a face at him when he realized Connor was teasing. “It was exhausting.”

“Watching a bloodbath would be, I’d imagine.”

“Not that part. The repeating high school part. I’m afraid Mrs. Jensen’s going to be waiting for me to hand in my paper on _Beowulf_ as soon as I close my eyes.”

“Can’t you sic the clown on her?”

“He doesn’t listen to me.”

Connor sighed and pulled himself up. He reached down to untangle their sheet. “Okay. Here’s the plan. We’re going to fix the covers, then we’re going to watch cute animal videos on my phone until you fall asleep.”

Evan’s mouth opened and closed several times.

“What?” Connor demanded. “You don’t like that idea?”

“It’s just...” Evan twisted his hands together. “I’m blaming you if Mr. Howard tells me I can’t graduate unless I know how to milk a cow.”

Connor’s head fell into his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

Tracy smothered a yawn with the back of her hand and blinked dazedly at the stage.

She did not envy the girl up there at all. She would have hated being part of a spectacle like that. She did not feel like she had missed anything by having a simple wedding and a proposal that was basically a discussion.

Alana was obviously on the same page. She shook her head and tutted. “Poor thing. She looks trapped.”

The girl looked out into the pit before stepping forward to embrace her boyfriend. The crowd went wild.

Tracy wondered if she was the only one who had noticed that the girl hadn’t actually said yes. She hadn’t said a word, hadn’t even nodded to show she was accepting the proposal.

The not-so-happy couple left the stage as the lead singer stepped forward to reclaim his spot.

Tracy closed her eyes when he started shouting into the microphone again. “It isn’t over?”

Alana patted her arm. “You want to call it a night?”

“No!” Zoe yelped from behind them. “It’s still early!”

It wasn’t early.

It was almost eleven and they’d been at the festival for six hours.

Tracy was beyond done. 

And she wasn’t the only one.

Evan looked like he was two seconds away from slipping into a coma. She smiled as she watched Connor rub his back.

She turned to face Zoe. “You and Jared can stay if you want, but the rest of us-”

“The six of us haven’t hung out in forever,” Zoe reminded her. “And my parents have the kids tonight. We don’t have to get them until tomorrow afternoon.”

Alana raised an eyebrow at her. “So, you want to stay up all night and sleep all morning?”

Zoe nodded eagerly. “This never happens. Please let me have this.”

Tracy chewed her lip and glanced at Alana.

They had a quick conversation with their eyes. A conversation in which they acknowledged their exhaustion, their guilt, and their desire to humor Zoe.

Zoe leaned forward conspiratorially. She nodded at something over Tracy’s shoulder.

The not-so-happy couple was having what seemed to be an extremely tense conversation.

“Did you see Jared’s face when that guy jumped on the stage? That’s my greatest fear.”

And just like that, Zoe won.

Game, set, match.

They weren’t going anywhere.

Tracy smothered another yawn. She was going to need sustenance if she was going to keep up with Zoe.  
She stole a sip of Alana’s rum and coke. Alana stole one of her pretzels in return.

Zoe’s hair puffed out in front of her face when she exhaled. “Okay, maybe not my greatest fear, but it’s up there.”

“You think Jared is thinking about doing a public proposal?” Alana wondered.

Zoe shrugged and played with her hands. “I don’t know. It sounds like him though, doesn’t it? Like something he’d do.”

“Have you two ever talked about getting married?” Tracy asked.

She looked at Alana again.

She couldn’t believe they were discussing this. The subject had always felt taboo. It was something the two of them had talked about several times, but not with Zoe. And definitely not with Jared.

They’d danced around it with Evan once, but Alana had changed the subject when Connor came in the room. She seemed to think it was something he preferred not to think about.

“Sort of,” Zoe admitted. “I think Jared was thinking about proposing before we found out I was pregnant. My parents said something that made me think he’d talked to them, but...”

Tracy nodded slightly. “Then he didn’t?”

Zoe watched the contents of her drink swirl as she moved it around. “I asked him if he thought we should get married after the first ultrasound and he said it was up to me.”

Tracy tried not to react when Alana stepped on her foot. She did it in a way that told Tracy it hadn’t been an accident.

Zoe absentmindedly popped one of Tracy’s pretzels in her mouth. “And then we left it at that.”

Tracy started to look at Alana again, but Zoe smacked the table before their eyes could meet.

“Would you two stop that?” Zoe laughed. “Just say what you’re thinking. I know you have an opinion. Or opinions.”

She emphasized the plural. “You haven’t merged into an unidentifiable married blob yet.”

“Yet?” Alana huffed. “Please kill us if that ever happens.”

Tracy nodded in agreement. “You’ll be doing us a favor.”

Zoe wrinkled her nose at the stage. “This song is terrible.”

“The worst,” Tracy and Alana chirped in unison.

Zoe pretended to shoot them with a pair of finger guns.

Alana pretended to die. Tracy was too tired to do anything other than blink and have a delayed reaction.

She didn’t get it until the other two started laughing.

“I’m going to go ask Evan wants to take a nap in the car with me,” Tracy decided.

Zoe grabbed her arm. “No, come on! I’m hopped up a dangerous combo of coffee and no sleep. When I crash, I’m going to crash hard. If you go, Alana will have to carry me out of here by herself because you know Connor’s going to get stuck with Evan and Jared.”

“No, he won’t,” Alana corrected. “He’ll get Evan out of here and leave Jared stranded on the floor. Which means I’m going to get stuck hauling both of you to the car by myself.”

Tracy glanced over at the guys. She had to admit she was hanging in there better than Evan. Connor looked like he was the only thing keeping Evan upright.

Not that he minded. It was obvious Connor didn’t mind that one bit.

“Connor said he’s been on call all week,” Alana explained. “The grad students have been driving him crazy with questions in the middle of the night.”

Zoe forced out a cough and pretended to dig through her purse for a lozenge. 

Tracy knew what that was about. 

Zoe didn’t want to become one of those mothers who only talked about her kids, so she tried to stop herself from mentioning them whenever she could. She tried not to complain about her kids, about how they did things like keep her up all night, because she didn’t want to be annoying.

It made Tracy feel sad to think about that sometimes. Sad and kind of guilty.

She knew Zoe liked talking about things besides her home life though. 

Tracy dove for her phone when a thought popped into her head. “Oh my God. I almost forgot. Did you two see this?”

She clicked around for a minute until she found the picture she was looking for. “Carly got married.”

“Carly?” Alana gasped. “As in Evan’s ex Carly?”

Tracy grinned and nodded. “Dawn told me about it earlier today. She was Carly’s bridesmaid-slash-witness.”

Zoe paled when she saw the picture. “She got married?”

“To that guy she’s been seeing for, like, a week,” Tracy giggled. “Dawn thinks she decided to do it because it’s the one thing she hasn’t tried.”

“I give it a week,” Alana said. She rubbed her hands together and reconsidered. “Scratch that. A day. One day before they try to get it annulled.”

“Dawn thinks this guy is good for her. She thinks he seems stable, which is a huge improvement over the last three.”

“Two hours,” Alana amended. “I bet they head back to the courthouse two hours after they wake up tomorrow.”

“You never know,” Tracy grinned. “Maybe they’ll be one of those couples that’s married for fifty years and has a gazillion grandkids.”

Alana shook her head. “One hour.”

Tracy nodded at the guys. “I can’t believe she used to date Evan.”

“It’s like you said. She had to try. She had to try dating a nice, normal, sane guy to figure out that’s not for her.”

Tracy hummed in agreement. She frowned when she saw Zoe’s face. “What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s not that I want to get married,” Zoe blurted out.

Tracy resisted the urge to look at Alana. “Okay?”

“I don’t know. Maybe someday.”

Alana propped her chin up on her hand. “Before or after your kids turn-”

She yelped when Tracy stepped on her foot.

Zoe looked between them and sighed. “No, no. None of that. Just... Let me have it.”

Alana raised her eyebrows. “We’re doing this?”

Zoe nodded stubbornly. “Yes.”

“For real? All of it?”

“Give me all you got.”

“Okay.” Alana straightened herself back up. “Okay, so, first of all, Sebastian’s existence came as a surprise.”

Tracy tilted her head at Alana. “We’re going that far back?”

“We’ve been nothing but supportive for the last two and a half years,” Alana reminded her. She turned to look Zoe in the eye. “You want the truth and nothing but the truth?”

Zoe’s mouth twitched. “So help you God.”

“Okay, honestly, the pregnancies were a surprise because we thought you were smarter than that.”

“Not smarter,” Tracy said sharply. “More careful.”

“Careful because you weren’t sure if you even wanted kids. At all. Possibly not even in the distant future.”

Zoe’s mouth formed a thin line. “Sebastian was conceived after Carly’s Mardi Gras party.”

Alana did a double take. She stared at the ceiling like she was trying to do the math. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Zoe huffed. 

“That makes a lot of sense, actually.”

Zoe snorted. “Yeah... And Penny... Have I mentioned how tired we are these days?”

Alana threw her hands up in surrender. “Okay. Well... We love your kids. You know we love your kids, right?”

“I know,” Zoe assured her. “We wouldn’t have made you Penny’s godmothers if we didn’t think you loved them.”

Tracy tried not to laugh at the memory. That had been an interesting day. A double baptism for two toddlers that had involved two parents who weren’t married (one who was Jewish), two godmothers who were, and two godfathers who were as good as married. It had been done at Zoe’s parents’ insistence, so they’d had the joy of finding an open-minded priest.

Luckily, they’d found one who was more concerned about how Zoe and Jared were going to find a balance between their respective traditions than anything else.

Alana smiled into her hand. “So, yeah, when you decided to go through with the pregnancy – the first pregnancy, we thought that meant you and Jared were going to...”

“Have a shotgun wedding?” Zoe finished.

“Or, you know, get engaged.”

Zoe looked to Tracy for confirmation. “That’s what you thought?”

“Kind of?” Tracy whispered. She cringed when she saw Zoe’s expression. “It’s your call, of course. It’s just... You two are pretty much as married as you can be without actually being married.”

Zoe blinked at the two of them. “So, we’re like Connor and Evan? Or are we worse because of the kids?”

“I wouldn’t say worse,” Alana said quickly. “Those two are really... Part of me feels like one of these days they’re just going to be like, ‘hey, did we ever tell you guys we got married six months ago?’”

“I can see that happening,” Zoe sighed. 

“I’ll kill them if it does.”

“You’ll have to get in line. My parents will want the first shot.” Zoe narrowed her eyes at Alana. “And you’re one to talk. You two ran off and-”

“Because our families were making us crazy! At least we tried to have a normal wedding!”

Zoe hummed in satisfaction. “Okay, so...”

Her mouth snapped shut.

Tracy wasn’t surprised when she glanced over her shoulder and saw the boys heading their way.

“I can’t take it anymore,” Jared moaned. “These two are disgusting.”

“Disgustingly cute,” Zoe teased.

“We’re going to leave,” Connor informed them. “Evan can barely keep his eyes open.”

Tracy decided to take advantage of that. “I think we’re going to call it a night too.”

She waited for Zoe to put up a fight. She practically bounced off her stool when it became clear Zoe was too busy focusing on Jared to pay attention to anything else.

“What did you think about that?” Zoe asked him. She gestured at the male half of the not-so-happy couple.

The female half was nowhere to be seen.

“The proposal?” Jared snorted. “Terrible idea. That guy did not think that out at all.”

“But... In general, do you think...”

“Are you thinking about proposing to me at the next Fairy Drops show? Because that’s really going to confuse the kiddies.” Jared’s mouth twisted to the side. “Not confuse. Bore. Disgust. They’ll think I’ve given you cooties.”

Evan perked up enough to fix Connor with a look. Connor sighed and closed his mouth.

Zoe tugged at her hair. “But-”

“It’s an all-around terrible idea,” Jared said. He made a point of emphasizing the word ‘terrible.’

“Okay...” Zoe glanced at him quickly. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

“Now these two on the other hand...” Jared grinned at Connor and Evan. “You just know Evan was dying to seize the mic.”

Evan shook his head and mumbled the word ‘sleep.’

Connor led him away without so much as a goodbye.

Tracy turned towards Alana. “Shall we?”

Alana nodded. She looked from Zoe to Jared and back again. “Have fun, you two. Have a nice, safe, _careful_ night.”

She cackled as she followed Tracy out.

Tracy shook her head. “That was mean.”

“I know,” Alana grinned.


	4. Chapter 4

Jared half-expected to hear ominous music playing as he approached the building. 

He started humming to himself when he decided the offkey sounds coming from the football field didn’t count.

Zoe elbowed him when she heard. “Would you stop? It isn’t that bad.”

“Isn’t that bad?” Jared laughed. “How would you know? You were pretty and popular when you went here. You have no idea how this feels.”

“I wasn’t popular,” Zoe said defensively. Her eyes rolled up exasperatedly. “Okay, maybe, by comparison, I was a little bit popular, but-”

Jared snorted.

Zoe shook her head. “You thought I was pretty?”

“I think that’s a pretty well-established fact.”

“Not now. I know you do now. Back then. You thought I was-”

Jared held up a hand to stop her. “Yes, okay. Again, I thought that was a well-established fact.”

Zoe smiled slightly. “It won’t be that bad. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

“Waste of a babysitter,” Jared huffed. “The school’s turning fifty. Big whoop.”

“We’re not here to support the school,” Zoe reminded him. “We’re here to support Alana.”

Jared stuck out his tongue. If she was going to talk to him like he was two, then he was going to act like he was two.

He perked up when he spotted Evan and Connor in front of them. 

Misery loved company and all that jazz.

He clapped a hand on Evan’s shoulder when he caught up with them. “Now these two know how it feels.”

“How what feels?” Evan asked.

“Ignore him,” Zoe sighed.

“You two look the way I feel,” Jared explained. “Like you’d rather be anywhere but here.”

Evan chewed his lip. “We should try to find Alana.”

“Why?” Connor demanded. “So she can put us to work?”

Evan shook his head. “So she knows we’re here. So we get credit for it. Then we can leave. There are so many people here she’ll never notice.”

Connor stared at Evan in amazement.

And then he looked like he wanted to murder his phone when it buzzed.

“Alana says we have to sit with our class. They’re having a competition to see which class has the most school spirit.”

Jared could tell he wasn’t the only one who felt like groaning.

“She isn’t serious, is she?” Jared moaned.

He didn’t know why he asked. He already knew the answer.

Of course, she was serious. 

He wondered if Alana knew she wasn’t being graded on this. That they couldn’t take back her diploma if she refused to help. 

It had been bad enough when she’d managed to guilt them into going to their ten-year reunion. At least that hadn’t been at the school. And there’d been alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

Jared wondered if there was a refreshment stand somewhere. Even a cookie would make this day slightly more tolerable.

“I guess I should go find my class then,” Zoe said.

She looked like she was almost as reluctant to leave them as they were to go inside.

Probably because Jared had driven and she knew there was a very real chance he’d leave her stranded.

Not stranded. He would never actually leave her stranded.

Her parents were there somewhere. And she could always get a ride with Alana and Tracy.

And he would definitely, most likely, come back if she asked.

Zoe gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Text me if you leave.”

She pointed a finger at Connor. “Alana’s your best friend.”

She said it like she could read his mind.

He blinked like she had.

She gave Evan a sympathetic smile. “Good luck...”

And then she was gone, lost in a sea of alums.

Jared eyed the building again. “They’re giving tours? Why are they giving tours?”

Evan shrugged. “To get money? Donations. It’s pretty common at this kind of thing. We do it all the time at the lab. Give a tour, mention the things we wish we could afford.”

Jared scoffed at the suggestion. “I gave this school my blood, sweat, and tears. They’re not getting any money from me.”

“Blood?” Evan frowned.

“Tears?” Connor smirked.

Jared gave them the finger and strode forward. Someone had to be the leader and he supposed it was going to be him for a change.

He stopped at the bottom of the steps and nodded up at the girl directing traffic. “Check her out. Mini-Alana at twelve o’clock. Mini-Tracy’s probably behind her somewhere.”

The resemblance was uncanny. The girl was smiling and beaming and looking far more cheerful than any self-respecting teenager had the right to look.

Jared grinned as another girl ran by them. A girl with purple streaks in her hair who was obviously part of the school band.

“Mini-Zoe.” He looked around while they waited for the line to start moving. “Mini-Jared’s probably already in the bleachers with his parents and his brother, putting on a show about how much he hates having to sit with his family... even though he doesn’t have anyone else to sit with.”

Evan smiled at his hands. “Mini-Evan’s probably at home hiding under a blanket and staring at his laptop.”

Connor glanced over his shoulder. “Mini-Connor’s probably getting high in the school parking lot.”

Evan did a double take. “You came to these things?”

Connor shrugged. “Sometimes. If Zoe was playing and my parents managed to wrestle me into the car.”

Jared snorted when Evan was rendered speechless.

The line began to move.

Jared watched his fists as they clenched and unclenched in front of him.

He raised one in the air and shouted, “We’ve got spirit! Yes, we do!”

He grinned when his friends whipped around to gawk at him. “What?”

They shook their heads.

Jared rocked back on his heels and continued to ask ‘what’ until they made it inside.


	5. Chapter 5

****

**I**

Connor wasn’t nervous until he had to wait for Evan’s mom to answer the door.

He’d been doing fine up until that moment. Totally and completely fine. 

As totally and completely fine as he could be given the circumstances.

He tugged at his hair and his sleeves and his shirt while he waited.

He was suddenly very glad Jared couldn’t see him. Jared loved saying the longer a couple stayed together, the more they started to resemble each other.

Which always made Connor say he felt sorry for Zoe.

The door swung open and Connor forced himself to breathe.

She knew.

He could tell that right away.

He could tell because of the look on her face when she saw him. He could tell because of the way she hugged him when he stepped inside.

She always hugged him, but not like that. Not like she was putting every ounce of maternal energy she had into it.

Which was fine with him. He liked her hugs. He always had. He’d never thought he’d like being hugged by someone else’s mother, but then there were a lot of things about his life he’d never expected.

He liked being hugged by someone who wasn’t in love with him or in lust. He liked being hugged by someone who wasn’t obligated to do so because they were related to him.

They went into the living room and sat on the couch.

She told him she’d sent Geoff to the store.

She knew. She absolutely, without a doubt, knew why he was there.

She started talking when he didn’t. She told him about her job, about how she’d been working with his father a lot lately. She told him about how his mother had convinced her to take a Pilates class. She told him about how she was never, ever going to do Pilates again.

She asked about his job, about _The Fairy Drops_. She asked about Zoe and her kids. She asked if Evan was getting enough sleep and eating right.

And then she looked at him expectantly.

“Are you here for the reason I think you are?”

And there it was.

Connor forced himself to nod. 

And then he stopped and shook his head and shrugged. “I’m not here to ask your permission.”

Heidi nodded. “Okay.”

“I’m here to...” He took a breath. “I don’t think I need your permission.”

“You don’t,” Heidi agreed with a smile. “It’s an old-fashioned idea. An insulting one to boot.”

“This is more of a heads up.”

“You’re going to ask him?”

“We’ve been talking about it a lot lately. Vaguely, like...”

Connor didn’t know how to explain it.

Heidi seemed to understand anyway. She squeezed his hand. “You have my blessing.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whether you want it or not, you have it.”

Connor stared at his hands. “Thanks.”

Heidi gave his hand another squeeze. “I’m glad he found you. I always worried he wouldn’t... I don’t want to say I worried he wouldn’t find anyone, but...”

She cleared her throat. “He didn’t start dating until he was in college. Which was fine, but then I worried he would settle for someone like Carly just because they showed interest in him. I didn’t say anything because I knew he needed to figure those things out on his own. And who was I to judge? There was a time when I thought his father was right for me.”

She snorted and shook her head. “And then Ricky came along and... The less said...”

Connor grimaced and nodded.

“I’m a mother. I worried he wouldn’t find someone worthy of him. Because he is worthy.”

“He is,” Connor whispered.

Heidi beamed at him. “You both are. I’m glad you found each other.” 

“Me too.”

Heidi glanced at him slyly. “Any idea how you’re going to do it?”

Connor scratched at his neck. “Not really, no.”

“You better think fast.”

Connor turned to squint at her. “Why?”

His heart started pounding. Was she going to tell? Was this some kind of trap? 

That sounded like something his parents would pull, not Heidi Hansen.

“He called me right after you did. I told him you were on your way over. He sounded surprised.”

Connor chuckled morosely. “I told him I was going to Alana’s.”

Heidi gave him a quick smile. “I figured it was something like that. It was too late to backtrack when I realized though.”

Connor blinked at the wall. “Oh.”

“He might think we’re planning another surprise party.”

“I swore I’d never try that again.”

“Me too,” Heidi sighed. 

Connor patted his knees and stood up. “I should...”

He nodded at the door.

She followed him to it. 

She hugged him before he left.

She hugged him and wished him luck.

He murmured his thanks.

He had a feeling he was going to need it.

 

****

**II**

Evan lifted his hand to ring the doorbell, changed his mind, and reached for his phone.

He started a text to Zoe, shook his head, and tried again.

He was halfway through his third attempt when the door swung open.

She smiled at him affectionately. “Creeper...”

“Yeah,” Evan laughed. He shoved his phone back in his pocket. “I was going to ring the bell, but then I thought the kids might be sleeping and I didn’t want to mess that up. So, then I thought I should tell you I was out here and then I started wondering if Jared was home, but then I thought I shouldn’t put that in writing in case he saw your phone and then... I’m rambling.”

“A little bit,” Zoe grinned. “Do you want to see Jared or not? I didn’t get that part.”

“Not,” Evan said firmly. 

And then his eyes widened.

Zoe laughed and ushered him inside. “He’s at work. And the kids are up, so we don’t have to worry about noise.”

“Okay,” Evan sighed. 

He followed her to the kitchen.

Sebastian and Penny were rolling around on the floor, pretending to be dogs.

“I think this is Jared’s way of guilting me into getting a puppy,” Zoe informed him. She hopped up onto one of the stools and nodded for him to do the same. “So, what’s up?”

“I think Connor’s going to propose.”

Evan clapped a hand to his mouth when he heard himself.

Zoe burst out laughing.

The kids did too, even though Evan was almost certain they didn’t understand what was going on.

He hoped they didn’t anyway.

He really hoped Sebastian didn’t. The last thing he needed was for his godson to repeat this conversation to Jared.

Zoe clapped her hands excitedly and led the kids to the table. “Let’s go watch _Arthur_!”

Evan waited while she got them situated in front of her laptop.

She nudged him when she sat back down. “What makes you think that?”

“He’s meeting with my mom now.”

“Really?” Zoe drawled.

“He told me he was going to see Alana.”

“Hmm,” Zoe hummed.

“You don’t look surprised.”

“Because I’m not.”

Evan glanced at her quickly. “Has he said something or...”

“He hasn’t said anything to me.”

“To Alana?” Evan guessed.

“Or to Alana, as far as I know. We all just figured this was coming.”

“You all figured he was going to propose?”

“We figured one of you would,” Zoe shrugged. “We haven’t really discussed how we think it’s going to go down.”

Evan let his breath out in a huff. “I can’t believe he’s meeting with my mom.”

“You think he’s asking for her permission?”

Evan blinked dazedly at the wall. “I don’t know... Do you think I need to ask permission?”

Zoe looked at him oddly. “Do you really want to have that conversation with my parents?”

Evan could feel his face going white. “You don’t think they-”

“They love you, don’t get me wrong. But still. It won’t be a particularly pleasant conversation. They’ll eat you alive.”

“Oh.”

“You have my permission,” Zoe grinned. She nudged him again. “For whatever that’s worth.”

Evan wrinkled his nose. “I hate that idea anyway. That you need to ask someone permission to ask someone else to marry you.”

“It’s a bit outdated,” Zoe agreed.

Evan’s mouth opened and closed several times. “And why does Connor get to be the one who asks?”

Zoe laughed into her hand. “I know, right?”

“You think I should ask?”

“Absolutely,” Zoe nodded eagerly. “Beat him to it. It’ll be like a proposal race. And you’ll totally win because you can talk faster than anyone I know.”

She gasped at something behind Evan.

Penny had faceplanted on the laptop.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Zoe muttered to herself. “Not again. Last time she did that, I lost three days’ worth of work.”

Evan climbed down from his stool and nodded at the door. “I’ll see myself out.”

Zoe looked up long enough to smile at him. “Welcome to the family.”

 

****

**III**

Evan wasn’t home when Connor returned.

He didn’t know what to make of that.

He checked the fridge for a note and his phone for a text. 

There were none to be found.

He fed the cats and emptied the dishwasher and started dinner.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned away from the stove and saw Evan standing in the doorway.

“You’re home.”

Evan nodded slightly. “Zoe says hi.”

“So does your mom.”

Evan blinked like he hadn’t been expecting that. “Do you have a ring?”

Connor knew he probably should’ve been more surprised than he was. “Not yet.”

“Neither do I.” Evan pulled out his wallet and started digging through it.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for a coin.”

Connor raised his eyebrows. “Why?”

He chuckled when he saw Evan’s expression. “You want to flip for it?”

“That would be fair, wouldn’t it?”

“You seriously want to flip a coin to decide who gets to propose?”

Evan shrugged. “Well-”

Connor took the wallet from him and put it on the counter.

He reached for Evan’s hands. “I say yes. Do you say yes?”

Evan rolled his eyes. “That’s cheating.”

Connor simply stared.

And tried not to laugh.

Evan bit his lip as he tried not to grin. “I say yes.”

He let go of Connor’s hands. “I would’ve won, you know. Zoe said we should have a proposal race. I definitely could’ve gotten the words out faster than-”

Connor silenced him with a kiss.

“I win at that,” Connor murmured. “Fastest kisser in this kitchen.”

Evan shook his head. “Such a cheater.”

He pulled back and looked Connor in the eye. “Rematch? At the count of three. One, two...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s a wrap again.
> 
> I decided to wrap this up here because I’m starting to feel like the rest of the ideas I have for this universe need an even bigger time jump. 
> 
> I may or may not get around to writing them later. I probably won’t even think about writing them until I finish _When Evan Met Connor_.


End file.
